Introduction

Sustainable Tourism 2010 is the fourth meeting organised in this successful series. The first was held in Segovia, Spain (2004), the second in Bologna, Italy (2006) and the last one in Malta (2008).

Tourism has become a major international industry, with many countries all over the world relying on the income it produces. Its economic advantages as a major source of finances and employment lead to its active promotion by governments and other institutions independent of the consequences on the environment, ecology and social structure of the affected regions.

The demands of tourism can contribute to the destruction of the natural and cultural environment upon which it depends. The natural and cultural landscape’s capacity to accommodate the local and worldwide effects of tourism, the typology thereof and its implications for the economy and society constitute very important study objectives. The development of tourism can result in the degradation of natural landscapes which paradoxically attract tourists to such areas.

Sustainable Tourism 2010 aims to find ways to protect the natural and cultural landscape through the development of new solutions which minimise the adverse effects of tourism. This can be achieved through the development of new strategies involving the active collaboration of society as a whole. Such solutions ought to cope with the continuous growth of tourism impacts on the country including culture and society.